Fluid pipe-line.



PATENTED JAN. 2, 1906.

J. B. SPEED.

FLUID PIPE LINE APPLICATION FILED JUNE 23,1905.

' is discontinued.

when the pipe-line IS laid on a grade if the v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES BUCKNER SPEED, OF BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO RIFLED PIPE COMPANY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A COR- PORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

FLUID PIPE-LINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2, 1906,

To ct whom it inrty concern:

Be it known that I,-JAMES BUOKNER SPEED, a citizen of the United States, residing at Berkeley, Alameda county, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in FluidPipe-Lines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to that art or method of piping fluid which consists in advancing the fluid, together with a second fluid of greater specific gravity, through the pipe, with a helical motion about the axis of the fluid content sufficient to envelop the lighter fluid with the heavier fluid, which said art or method is fully disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States No. 759,37 granted to me jointly with John D. Isaacs May 10, 1904,

and to which patent reference is hereby made. The particular utility of said method is in its application to the piping of oil; and its object is to reduce the friction against the pipe-walls, said object being obtained by the intervention between the oil and the pipe-walls of an envelop composed, of a second fluid, such as water, between which and the pipe-walls the friction is less than that between the oil and the pipe-walls or between which water and the oil the friction is less than that between the oil and the pipe-walls. This resultis attained by forcing both liquids through a pipe which is provided on its interior with a helically-directed obstruction of some character capable of imparting to the pipe content a helical motion about its axis as it advances through the pipe, whereby the water is thrown to the outside and forms an envelop between the oil and the pipe-walls.

Hy present invention relates especially to the helically riflied or corrugated pipe-line; and it has for its object to prevent the collection of all the water at the lower end of the pipe-line and all the oil at the upper end of the line when said line is laid on a grade and when for any reason the pumping of the fluid It will readily be seen that pumping be stopped all the water in the line will descend and collect at the bottom of the grade and the oil will remain at the top of the grade, so that when the pumping is resumed it will be diflicult to bring the oil and water into proper juxtaposition to insure the result of having the latter envelop the former. To remedy this difficulty is the purpose of my present invention.

My invention consists in a pipe-line having an internal helical'ly-directed riflie or other obstruction, said line being provided at intervals with the depressions below the line of its general grade and forming a series of traps throughout the length of the line in which when the pumping is discontinued the water will collect and be retained.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the pipe-line, showing it in the ditch and laid on a grade. Fig. 2 is a view of the apparatus of which the pipe-line forms a part and in which the method stated is carried out.

A is the pipe-line, which, as indicated, is internally riflied with a spirally-directed obstruction a of any suitable character. The line is laid on a grade, as shown. At one end of the pipe-line is shown the pump B, by which the oil is supplied to the line, and the pump C, by which the Water is supplied to the line, these parts representing the general apparatus by which the method of piping oil is carried out. At intervals the pipe-line is provided with depressions at below its general grade. These depressions may be formed in any suitable manner-as, for example, by separate casings attached to and communicating with the pipe-or, as will be done in practice and as here shown, they will be formed by depressing the line itself below its general grade at proper intervals. These depressions may be in practice at intervals of two hundred feet when an eight-inch pipe is used for the line, and each should be at least a distance equal to the diameter of the pipe below the two elevated points on each side and within the two hundred feet, and their length should be about fifty feet. It will now be seen that if the pumping be discontinued the water will collect in the depression a and be there retained, while the oil will fill, the pipe, and when the pumping is resumed the water in each depression or trap will be sufficient and readily available for forming the envelop around the section of fluid content to which it relates.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is"

1. A pipe-line having an interior helicallydirected obstruction for the piping of a fluid, according to the method stated, said line, when laid on a grade, having traps at intervals in its bottom, for the collection of the heavier fluid of the pipe content, when the pumping is discontinued.

2. A pipe-line having an interior helicallydirected obstruction for the piping of a fluid,"

according to the method stated, said line, when laid on a grade, being depressed below its general grade, at intervals, to form traps for the collection of the heavier fluid of the pipe content, when the pumping is disconlaid on a grade and having traps for the collection of the heavier fluid of the pipe content, when the pumping is discontinued.

4L. In an apparatus for the method stated and in combination with means for supplying the pipe-line with the two fluids, a pipe-line laid on a grade and depressed below its general grade, at intervals, to form traps for the collection of the heavier fluid of the pipe content, when the pumping is discontinued.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JAMES BUGKNER SPEED. 

